Springfield, Mass., area in search-and-rescue mode after tornadoes
People awoke in the Springfield, Mass., area on Thursday to the damage done by tornadoes that had raced through the region, leaving at least four dead and about 40 injured, officials said.
“When I spoke with the mayor of Springfield yesterday, he told me they had about 10 minutes’ warning” before Wednesday’s tornadoes, Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick said on ABC’s “Good Morning America.”
“When you consider how quickly the tornadoes developed and then touched down, the fact that there wasn’t even greater damage and loss of life is a remarkable thing,” the governor said. Rescuers were going door to door searching for those trapped in the debris.
Springfield Mayor Domenic J. Sarno estimated that more than 40 people had been injured in the tornadoes.
Speaking at the same televised news conference, Sen. John Kerry, who will join Patrick in an aerial tour of the damaged region, said, “Everything that can be done is being done, and impressively.”
This has been an especially deadly year for tornadoes in the Midwest and South, but the Northeast is usually spared and, hence, often less prepared for dealing with twisters.
The most recent previous tornado in the state occurred in 2008, and the last deaths from a tornado were in 1995, when three people were killed in Great Barrington, about 70 miles west of Springfield.
The deadliest tornado in Massachusetts was recorded on June 9, 1953, when 94 people were killed near Worcester, some 80 miles east of Springfield.
Patrick has declared a state of emergency in the state and has called up 1,000 National Guardsmen to help with security and search and rescue.
According to the National Weather Service, the first tornado touched down on Wednesday at about 4:30 p.m. in Springfield. A second tornado hit Springfield at about 6:20 p.m.
About 39,000 customers remained without power in central and western Massachusetts, officials said.
michael.muskal@latimes.com
twitter.com/LATimesmuskal
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